Today is Big Wind Day, Grilled Cheese Sandwich Day, National Licorice Day, Walk on Your Wild Side Day, and the birthday of Beverly Cleary (Publisher HarperCollins recognizes her birthday as National Drop Everything and Read Day (DEAR)), Tom Clancy, Scott Turow, KA Bedford

Tip: Get a book by Beverly Cleary and read it. Even after 70 years (her first book was published in 1950), her stories still hold true. Look at what she does with characters and story. She makes them real. Strive to do that with your characters as well.

Thought: “I find the greatest thing in this world is not so much where we stand as in what direction we are moving.” Oliver Wendell Holmes

Teaser: Write a scene about something you’re doing – perhaps a walk you take. Write it both from your perspective as an adult, and from a child’s perspective.